AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SCHEDULING AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR APPAREL MANUFACTURING

By

Lan Cao

The overall objective of this research is to utilize the Apparel Manufacturing Architecture (AMA) building blocks to design, develop and implement an information system for an apparel enterprise. ARN-AIMS is the first such system developed in earlier research which addresses the tasks of order processing, order tracking and shipping in an apparel enterprise. One of the primary objectives of this research is to expand the functionality of ARN-AIMS to include order scheduling by linking a scheduling software to it. The order line items can be scheduled according to the user-defined rules. This proves that ARN-AIMS is a flexible system which can integrate with other software and its scope can be expanded according to changes in users’ needs. AMA is used as the building block to address the resource management and assignment functions in an apparel enterprise and it has been enhanced based on the experience with expanding the scope of ARN-AIMS.

Analysis and evaluation show that the development of the system based on the AMA building blocks is both cost- and time-effective. Moreover, this research proves that AMA is essential for the integration of different software, and the architectural approach to development of information systems for a particular industry is essential to ensure seamless communication within and between enterprises. Finally, AMA has the ability to be enhanced and used as a basis for the development of an information system for apparel manufacturing. This proves that AMA is a flexible infrastructure for apparel industry information systems.

 

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